Chapter 98

Zhu Youxiang shook her head: "I don't know... When I went through security, I had already placed the sword in the bracelet."

"Ah, can you take it out now?"

"It's not impossible, but..."

Zhu Youxiang glanced at Zhao Tong sitting next to Xu Yan, then at the surrounding passengers and seats, her face showing concern as she remained silent.

At this moment, Xu Yan also understood Zhu Youxiang's concern: Normally, taking things out of her storage bracelet wouldn't be a problem, but in such a narrow space on the plane, with seats so close together and a stranger right next to her, it would be impossible to take out a sword over a meter long without alarming the other passengers. How could he explain a sword that suddenly appeared out of nowhere?

Xu Yan grimaced, "Trouble! There are no police on the plane. If that monster breaks out and starts a massacre..."

The monster was incredibly strong. If it attacked the unarmed passengers, in such a confined space, there would be no place to run, leading to a tragic scene of piled bodies and rivers of blood.

Zhu Youxiang turned to look at him, her voice gentle yet firm, "Mr. Xu, don't worry. No matter what, I will protect your safety. Even if something happens to the plane, you will be safe."

Zhu Youxiang's words were filled with sincerity, warming Xu Yan's heart. Before he could respond, Zhao Tong, who had been listening, interrupted, confused by their conversation. He could see that the two young people were very serious, talking about "massacre" and "protecting your safety," as if they were certain that something terrible was about to happen.

"Xu Yan, Xiao Zhu, what are you talking about? Is it about the fight? It can't be that serious, just a minor incident. The flight attendants will handle it."

Xu Yan forced a smile, but there was no trace of joy in his eyes. He undid his seatbelt and said to Zhu Youxiang, "Shall I go and check?"

Zhu Youxiang countered, "If it really is a monster, how do you plan to deal with it?"

"Um..." Xu Yan scratched his head, embarrassed. Spending time with Zhu Youxiang, seeing her easily defeat two monsters, he had developed a false sense of security, thinking monsters were nothing to worry about. But he had forgotten that he was just a beginner in cultivation, still in the启蒙 stage. His current strength couldn't even handle a small handgun, and a monster's spirit could knock him out with a single punch.

In the end, he had to rely on Zhu Youxiang.

"Xuan Yun, this..."

Zhu Youxiang, understanding the situation, spoke before Xu Yan could finish, "Mr. Xu, please rest assured. This situation is different. I understand the principle of mutual aid. However, I am worried about the aftermath with so many witnesses."

She was troubled: There were over two hundred people in the cabin, including passengers and crew. After she dealt with the monster, would she have to create a flight accident to cover up and eliminate all the witnesses? That would be too cruel...

Xu Yan also thought about the same issue: Indeed, if Zhu Youxiang revealed her abilities and killed the monster in front of everyone, it would definitely attract official attention.

He thought hard but couldn't find a perfect solution, "Xuan Yun, we can only hope it's just a normal fight or a madman. If it turns out to be something worse... survival comes first. We can only discuss the aftermath if we survive the flight. On the plane, our lives are at risk, so don't think too much. When the time comes, Xuan Yun, don't hesitate."

Zhu Youxiang frowned, silent for a moment, then nodded, "I understand. Mr. Xu, don't worry."

"Hey," Zhao Tong couldn't take it anymore. His questions were ignored, and he felt like he was being treated as air. Seeing the two young people talking about "monsters" and "survival" as if they were serious, he couldn't hold back. He rudely interrupted, "Xu Yan, Xiao Zhu, what are you talking about? What's going on?"

Xu Yan glanced at him, smiling bitterly, "Nothing—Mr. Zhao, please move, I need to go out."

Zhao Tong's expression darkened. He was a well-traveled man and had already picked up on the seriousness of the situation from their conversation. If Xu Yan had told him something, he wouldn't have been afraid—just two kids scaring each other. But Xu Yan's reluctance to speak made him uneasy.

He undid his seatbelt and asked, "Xu Yan, is something happening? Is someone hijacking the plane?"

"Not sure, I'll go and check..."

"Alright, if you need help, call me."

Xu Yan looked at Zhao Tong in surprise—He hadn't expected this flirtatious man to have such courage.

Meeting Xu Yan's gaze, Zhao Tong smiled bitterly and whispered, "If it's just a fight, the crew should handle it... If they can't, it must be serious! If my bad luck is right, we're all on the plane, where can I hide? If those terrorists do something to the plane, I'd rather fight them."

Xu Yan smiled—Zhao Tong might be a bit of a womanizer, but he was clear-headed in critical moments.

He undid his seatbelt, stood up, and walked down the aisle towards the first-class section. Not just him, but a few male passengers also stood up, looking serious and ready to help.

A young man in his thirties, wearing a sports outfit and a buzz cut, who had been sitting in front of Xu Yan, also stood up. He blocked Xu Yan's path and said, "Excuse me, can you move aside..."

The young man turned and looked at Xu Yan, his eyes wary, "There's a fight there, what are you going to do?"

Xu Yan smiled, "I heard the flight attendant calling for help. I'll go and see if I can help."

The young man sternly told Xu Yan, "Sit back down, don't cause trouble! The crew will handle it. Just wait."

Xu Yan was taken aback, forgetting to ask the man's identity. He retorted, "But I clearly heard the flight attendant calling for help—they can't handle it."

The young man shook his head and emphasized, "Sit back down immediately!" His tone was now stern and warning.

Xu Yan was about to say more, but the situation changed again: The curtain blocking the first-class section moved, and with a few screams, someone rushed out. Two flight attendants, their faces pale and their uniforms torn, ran out, one of them screaming, "Help, he's killing people! Help!"

Chasing them was a middle-aged man in a suit. From his appearance and build, he seemed to be a successful businessman. But now, there was no trace of his usual demeanor. His face was twisted in a grotesque manner, his eyes bloodshot and filled with evil. His suit was torn, and his white shirt was splattered with blood.

His hands were covered in blood, and he chased the flight attendants with unusual agility, growling like a beast, not at all human.

Seeing the flight attendants running in panic, a tall passenger in the front row stood up to block the middle-aged man, "What are you doing! You're a grown man, chasing women in broad daylight? We're on a plane, can't you behave..."

Before the tall passenger could finish, something shocking happened: In front of dozens of passengers, the middle-aged man casually waved his hand, and the tall man was knocked down as if hit by a truck at 200 km/h. He flew over two rows of seats, landing on the third row, causing a loud crash and screams. The tall man fainted, and the passengers he hit were also screaming in pain, the cabin in chaos.

The entire cabin was in an uproar, passengers standing up to see what was happening, "What's going on?"

Seeing the middle-aged man, his bloodshot eyes, twisted face, and the terrifying strength that knocked a man down with a single punch, Xu Yan's mind went blank: When the commotion started, he had been worried it might be a monster. He never thought it would actually be one!

How unlucky could he be? According to Wen Xiu, there had been only about a hundred cases of madmen causing harm in the country, spread across the country. The chances of encountering one in a lifetime were slim, but he had encountered three—like winning the lottery three times in a row!

Was he cursed, with bad luck always following him?

At this moment, the screams and cries in the front of the cabin were deafening. Despite the monster's terrifying strength, the other passengers didn't back down. They shouted, "He's killing people! Let's take him down together!"

"That man is crazy! Grab him, hold him!"

"Men, go up! Women and children to the back!"

In the first few rows, almost all the male passengers joined the fight—not all were brave, but they understood that on a plane, if they didn't stop the monster, they had nowhere to run. If the plane was damaged, they would all die.

Because of this, the passengers fought with all their might, united in their goal.

Anyone who has flown knows that the cabin aisle is narrow, barely wide enough for two people to pass. With seven or eight men rushing in, the aisle was packed. People were piled on top of each other, fists flying, and groans of pain filling the air.

"You're pushing me!"

"Ouch, stop! You hit the wrong person, the bad guy is over there!"

But this chaos saved everyone: On the ground, the monster's strength and speed would have made it impossible for dozens of people to stop him. But on the plane, the narrow aisle limited everyone's movements. The monster was surrounded by people, held by several arms, unable to use his strength, only able to roar in frustration.

Xu Yan wanted to help, but what happened next left him speechless: The young man in front of him crouched down, pulled up his pants, and revealed a leather holster on his leg. He quickly pulled out a small handgun.

Seeing the young man pull out a gun, Xu Yan was shocked, his mind blank. After a while, he thought, "What the hell, am I that unlucky? Not only did I encounter a monster, but also an armed hijacker?"

The young man, holding the gun with both hands, leaned forward, his face tense, his head swaying, sweat on his forehead, watching the passengers on both sides.

Seeing the gun, the surrounding passengers looked at him with fear, all thinking the same thing: "Oh no, a hijacker!"

Noticing the passengers' fear, the young man pulled out a black police ID from his pocket, opened it, and held it up, shouting, "Passengers, please relax, I am the air marshal! There has been an unexpected situation, please don't panic, stay calm! Move aside, let me handle it!"

"Oh, an undercover air marshal!"

Now, everyone understood. The young man with the gun was not a hijacker but an air marshal. The passengers felt relieved: With a police officer here, they should be able to stop the monster.

Xu Yan couldn't help but look back at Zhao Tong, his eyes expressing surprise: "Didn't you say there were no air marshals on the plane?"

Zhao Tong's face turned red—He didn't know much about air marshals. He had never seen one on his many flights, so he assumed they didn't exist.

When Xu Yan asked, to impress Zhu Youxiang, Zhao Tong confidently said there were no air marshals, but now he was proven wrong. Air marshals did exist, just in plain clothes, hidden among the passengers.

But with the situation urgent, no one had time to laugh at Zhao Tong. Under the air marshal's command, the passengers in the aisle gradually cleared a path, allowing the air marshal to approach the fight.

Xu Yan followed a few steps behind the air marshal.

After the crowd dispersed, the scene became clear: In the front of the cabin, the scene was gruesome and bloody. Several bodies lay on the aisle, some dead, some alive. Blood was flowing everywhere, soaking the carpet.

As the crowd dispersed, the monster appeared in Xu Yan's view—though to others, it was just a tired, panting middle-aged man. He was crouched, head down, staggering, covered in blood. Two bodies lay beneath him, dead or alive.

The air marshal raised his gun, aiming at the monster, and shouted, "Don't move! I'm a police officer, raise your hands!"

Hearing the air marshal's command, Xu Yan inwardly groaned—This guy looks competent, but he's a fool. The situation is clear: so many people are injured, blood everywhere, the enemy is terrifying. He should shoot immediately, not order the monster to raise its hands. Is he following the rules too strictly?

But seeing the air marshal's small gun, Xu Yan could only sigh—He wasn't an expert, but the gun looked small, smaller than the 64 and 92 pistols he had seen. It was probably a special gun for use on the plane, with limited power to prevent the bullets from piercing the cabin. It was probably less powerful than a regular police pistol.

Using such a toy-like special gun against a monster? Better to commit suicide!

Thinking this, Xu Yan gripped the sword handle—During the chaos, Zhu Youxiang had secretly taken out the sword from her storage bracelet and handed it to Xu Yan.

Now, Xu Yan unbuttoned his coat, holding the sword under his left arm, using the coat to hide it. He watched the monster, waiting for its next move.

As Xu Yan had predicted, the monster, disturbed by the air marshal's command, suddenly raised its head, its red eyes filled with cruelty and evil.

Then, the monster moved, leaping towards the air marshal!

At that moment, Xu Yan felt a sudden alertness. Without thinking, he drew his sword, stepped forward, and pushed the air marshal aside, gripping the sword handle tightly and thrusting forward with all his might—more like a stab with a butcher's knife.

A soft "swoosh" sound was heard as Xu Yan's sword pierced something, feeling a soft, resilient resistance, like a water bag, but quickly breaking through!

In an instant, the resistance disappeared, and a chill ran through the sword handle. Before Xu Yan could react, the flowing spirit energy in his body automatically responded, a warm current flowing through his veins into the sword handle, adding several times the strength to his arm. Xu Yan growled and pushed forward again!

A dull "swoosh" sound was heard, like a water bag being punctured, and a foul-smelling liquid splashed onto Xu Yan's face. The smell of blood made Xu Yan go wild. He closed his eyes, pulled back the sword, and thrust again, not knowing where he hit the monster. When he opened his eyes, he saw his second thrust had deeply pierced the monster's chest. The monster's body stiffened, eyes rolled back, mouth wide open, but it stopped moving. Blood flowed from its eyes, nose, and mouth, dripping onto the carpet.

Xu Yan kept a close eye on the monster, ready for any counterattack.

He stepped back, pulled out the sword, and the monster, losing its support, wobbled and fell to the ground with a thud.

Seeing the monster fall, Xu Yan finally relaxed. He remembered Zhu Youxiang's words: "The Cicada Wing Sword is a high-level spirit weapon, while the monster is a low-level spirit. Using a high-level weapon against a low-level spirit is simple: the sword's spirit energy will automatically attack the spirit, like fire burning wood or the sun melting snow, destroying it completely."

So, using guns to destroy a monster's body from the outside was difficult, often requiring dozens of shots to kill one. For a spirit, the human body was just a coat; damaging the coat didn't hurt the spirit. But spirit energy attacks directly targeted the spirit, and a single strike from the Cicada Wing Sword would kill it.

Wen Xiu and his armed forces couldn't defeat a single monster, but Xu Yan had killed one with two strikes. Thinking of this, Xu Yan felt a sense of pride. He sheathed the sword and was about to help the two frightened flight attendants when the air marshal, who had been pushed aside, suddenly reacted. He turned, eyes wide, and shouted, "You killed him! You murdered him!"

Murder!

The air marshal's loud voice echoed in Xu Yan's ears. Before Xu Yan could react, the air marshal turned, stepped back, and pointed his gun at Xu Yan, shouting, "You! Drop your weapon! Raise your hands!" (To be continued)